Iron Storm
by FM Jacquet
Summary: It is 1942. Hitler has landed troops on American soil. The only thing that stands between him and world domination is a pair of gundam pilots misplaced in time. Rated M for language and violence.
1. Chapter I

Chapter I

It felt as if some brilliant light from the heavens had suddenly burst forth and its many rays were engulfing the tiny, spec-like Duel and Buster Gundams. Both Yzak and Dearka felt as though some tremendous fist had slammed them into the back of their seats. "Dearka!" screamed Yzak into the comm-link. "Dearka, are you there?!" he called. It was of no avail. The message came through to the blonde-pilot as nothing more than static and broken words, not that it mattered anyway. He was already unconscious. The last thing Yzak remembered before blacking out was the sight of a Ginn beside him quickly being enveloped into the growing light.

Yzak's head pounded with an aching pain, feeling as though someone was inside his skull trying to puncture a hole out of it with a steel pike. He groaned as he opened his eyes and tried to bring the world into focus, finding himself still in the cockpit. All the instruments that normally flashed with life were now dead, and the visor on his helmet was cracked but still intact. Once he had gotten his head back together and, he removed his helmet and let down his platinum blonde hair before opening the cockpit. He unbuckled his harness as fell forward rather ungracefully onto a mound of soft earth. His body still felt weak from the crash, so he decided he would lie for a few minutes, thinking things over.

_Okay._ _Where the hell am I?_ he thought. _Am I in one of the plants_? he asked himself. _No, if I had crashed into a plant, I wouldn't be alive . I can't be on earth. There's no way I could have survived reentry. Where am I? _

Asking himself these questions, the Gundam pilot began to gather the strength necessary to force himself onto his knees. He then reached over and picked up his helmet to use the comm-link. "Dearka….Dearka….Dearka, are you there?" he asked….

Nothing. He just got back static. Yzak sighed heavily and dropped his helmet before turning around to survey his surroundings. Forest lay in every direction and in the distance he could make out a long stretch of dirt road. The Gundam pilot began to walk down through the city of greenery towards the vast stretch of paved Earth. _Maybe I can call him from the clearing. _He thought as he pushed his way up onto the road. He stopped at the edge and dropped down to his knees, catching his breath and resting his sore muscles. _Could this be Earth? _He asked himself. _If it is…_

His train of thought was cut short by a familiar sound; the humming of an approaching vehicle. Yzak turned his head in the direction of the oncoming noise, and saw coming up over a hill in the distance a pair of automobiles. One, a large canvas truck, and the other a smaller tan car out in front of it. Both seemed ancient to Yzak. There were not at all like the streamline designs he was used to seeing. He didn't move as the vehicles came closer, and a passenger in the lead car stood up as he noticed the silver-haired boy. He tapped the driver of the car on the shoulder, indicating for him to stop. As it slowed, the standing man stepped down from the car, his black-leather boot making a crunching noise as it hit the soft gravel scattered of the road. Yzak lifted his head slowly to look over the intimidating figure that stood before him.

He was taller than the boy by a few inches and wore a black open-breasted tunic with a matching black tie and breeches. Wrapped around his waist was same-brown belt that stretched up over his right shoulder. Atop his head was a peaked officer's cap, bearing a distinctive skull and crossbones on the crown and an eagle on the peak.

However, what caught Yzak's attention was a curious item wrapped around his left sleeve. A red, cloth band with a white disk and a strange cross in the center that looked as though it each end had been bent to the right.

One of the Core Curriculum that all military academy students were required to study was earth military history. Until now it had seemed like any other class to catch a snooze in, but there was one portion which Yzak remembered distinctly. The chapters he had studied on the Earth's world wars. _The second of the World Wars was instigated by a radical group of racial supremacists who were known as the Nazis. _He remembered the lesson on the origins of the national socialist movement and how they had come to power. He remembered Hitler and his notions of Aryan supremacy. He remembered…he remembered the swastika. That's what this cross was. A swastika. This man was a Nazi.

"Get up!" commanded the figure in black. Yzak did not obey, choosing instead to remain seated, quietly looking up at the Nazi officer. "I said get up!" yelled the man as he reached down and pulled out a pistol from his hip holster. Now Yzak could see he was getting serious, and so decided to quietly submit to his orders. The officer looked at him directly in the eyes with a death gaze about his face. He looked up and down the boy, examining his space suit before speaking. "Who are you?" he asked. Yzak said nothing, still looking at his captor. "Answer me!" commanded the man in black, this time jamming the top of his gun in Yzak's soft gut. The silver-haired boy wheezed and coughed. "Now, who are you?"

"My name is Yzak. Yzak Jule." He hacked out.

"I see. Tell, me. What is that ridiculous uniform you are wearing?"

"It's a suit, a Zaft space suit."

"Hmm. What is Zaft?"

At this point, Yzak felt slightly dumbfounded at two things. The first was that this man did not know what Zaft was, and the second was how he was going to explain it to him. "It's…" the silver haired boy paused to catch his breath from the blow. "It's a….a military group." The officer replaced his pistol and began to stroke his chin as though a thought was now running through his head. "Military? Interesting. Now, perhaps you can tell me what that over there is." He said as he pointed to the Duel off in the distance. "Never-mind. We'll talk later." The officer turned his head and waved his hand, summoning a pair of gray-clad soldiers in primitive steel helmets and toting what Yzak recognized to be sub-machineguns. "Tie his hands." ordered the Nazi. "It would be better if you gave that information to the general." The two soldiers slung their weapons over their shoulders and walked behind the pilot, grabbing his hands and wrenching them behind back, then securing them with a piece of rope. They led him to the back of the truck and proceeded to push him through the canvas covering.

The nameless officer stepped up on to the rail along the side of the car. "Try to radio in to SS regional command and get a recovery team on that weapon. " He said to the driver. "That boy could prove to be useful link."

"What do you mean by that, Herr?"

"This Zaft he talks about is a military organization. It's possible that he could be linked to the resistance. If that proves to be true…"

_Tink, tink. _The sound of something metallic hitting the ground was heard, and the SS man looked down near his foot. There he could see a small, oblong metal sphere. "Grenata!" he screamed diving for cover. The grenade exploded, causing the tan car to jolt upwards and to throw the officer several backwards over the edge of the road. Gunshots filled the air as men emerged from the bushes firing at the German soldiers. Yzak ducked down as the soldiers guarding him took cover behind the truck. "Resistance!" one of them yelled. The silver-haired boy saw this as his chance and waited for the soldier on his left to turn before delivering a full-moon kick that knocked his gun down, and a second, beautiful chop kick to his face. The soldier dropped and Yzak ran.

"Stop!" he heard someone call out behind him. The second guard began shooting, but was cut down by a hail of bullets before he could aim properly. Yzak looked back momentarily, but kept running with no thoughts in his head except to get away. He didn't have a second thought about his gundam and what those men would do to it. They probably couldn't understand how it worked anyway. He also took no notice of the tiny hole in his left arm just above the elbow.

After about ten or fifteen minutes of running (He couldn't tell seeing as his watch was broken), the pilot came to stop at the top a hill that descended into a small valley. In the bottom of the valley was a cabin with all windows boarded up. Assuming it was empty, Yzak ran without haste and shoulder-jerked his way into the door, making a loud splintering sound as he contacted. The door landed several feet forward and Yzak thudded against the hard wood of the floor. He hardly time to look up when he saw a pair of feet in front of him. Slowly, the silver-haired boy craned his head upwards and found himself looking down the barrel of Thompson sub-machinegun in the hands of a young man about his age.

"Shit…." He said.


	2. Chapter II

Chapter II

Yzak stared up at his adversary with a look that was a mixture of contempt and exhaustion. The boy in front of him looked about his age with shaved brown hair and blue eyes. He wore gray slacks and a vest with a pair of arm holsters, each containing a pistol. "Who the fuck are you?" asked the stranger. Feeling too weak to fight back, Yzak simply answered, "My name's Yzak."

"You with the Germans?" the boy replied.

"No. They tried to capture me and I got away."

"I see." he said. The boy slung his weapon over his shoulder and reached into his pocket from which he produced a small knife. Yzak was hesitant to let the boy get near him. "Relax, I'm just going to cut the ropes." The sliver-haired boy lessened the tension in his body as the other boy walked around behind him and proceeded to cut his bindings. "Shit, what happened to your arm?"

"What?"

"You're bleeding pretty bad." said Jack. Yzak began looking over his arms, eventually coming across the tiny hole that bled profusely in his left arm.

"Fuck. Shit." he said as he grabbed his arm.

"I'll see what I can do. Anyway, you can relax now. As far as I'm concerned, if you're not the Germans, you're a friend. The name's Jack. Jack Wesson." said the boy in a New York accented voice. Yzak stood up as Jack walked forward into a small kitchen area and began searching the cupboards. "So Yzak, where you from?" The silver-haired said nothing. "….Well?"

"Look, I've answered enough fucking questions today. I want to get some answers myself. First, where the fuck am I?"

Jack turned and shot the Gundam pilot an odd look. "What'ya mean where are you? We're in Brooklyn."

Now the look passed to Yzak. "Brooklyn? You mean as in the New York?"

"Yeah as in the New York. Where the fuck else?"

"But what're the Nazis doing here?" asked Yzak in a genuinely inquisitive tone.

"Don't you keep up on the news? They invaded three months ago."

Now the Gundam pilot had a look of genuine dumbfoundedness on his face. "Man, you really don't know. Here." said Jack, throwing down a newspaper that was now badly yellowed. In big bold letters, the headlines read:

GERMANS INVADE!

Hitler Now Controls East Coast!

Wermacht Pushing West!

American Generals Scramble to Counter

New German Super-Weapons!

Below the headlines was a picture of New York city, and flying above it were a squadron of Ginns, painted gray with large red swastikas on either shoulder. He also noted the date, July 15, 1942. "Apparently, they had these secret, new super robots that….

"Wait a minute," interrupted Yzak. "These are fucking Ginns!" He said in a shouting tone.

"Ginn? What's a Ginn?"

"It's a…look, it's complicated and I don't have time to explain it. I shouldn't even be here."

"Whadya' mean? Where the hell are you supposed to be?"

Yzak turned his back to other boy, running his fingers through his long, platinum hair. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me buddy. After all this, there isn't much I won't believe."

Yzak took in a deep breath. "Alright. Look, I'm from….I'm from the future, about 300 years from now. I don't know how I got here. All I know is that there was some sort of explosion, I blacked out, and somehow ended up here."

Jack looked at Yzak with a look upon his face as if to ask _are you fucking serious_, but said nothing. He simply let out a sarcastic huff and set the Thompson down on the kitchen counter.

"I'm telling you the truth!" shouted Yzak.

"Look pal, I said I can believe a lot of things, but time travel aint one of them."

"Listen dumb-fuck, the weapons in this picture are called mobile suits. There from the future, and I have one. It crashed out in the forest."

"Really, you've got one them fancy robots?"

"Yes. Well, it's not one of these it's something better. Listen, I can help you, but I need you to help me."

"Really? Well sit down for right now and I'll boil some bandages."

Yzak eased himself into a nearby chair, still tightly grasping his arms as Jack walked over the fireplace and began lighting a fire. He placed a small kettle over the top, filled it with water from a large jug, and then proceeded to tear up some bed-sheets to boil. It was then a pair of men walked through the doorway, one in a pinstriped suit and fedora, the other in white undershirt and gray slacks with suspenders.

"Hey Jack, we told you to watch this place. What the fuck happened to the door?" The pinstriped man said. He then turned and noticed the silver-haired boy sitting in the chair next to him. "Hey, you were the guy running from the Germans back on the road!"

"Vin, calm down." said Jack.

"Well excuse me, but I don't like strangers, even if they were running from the Germans. Who the fuck is this?"

Tired of being talked over, the gundam pilot finally spoke. "My name is Yzak." he said in slightly irritated tone.

"This is Vin and Charley." said Jack as he rung out some of the bandages. "Please, try and forgive Vin's rudeness. He's been a little on edge as of late." he said, walking over to Jule and proceeding to wrap the warm pieces of cloth around his arm. Yzak cringed slightly at the hot, yet relaxing feeling.

"I'm gonna let that pass for right now just cause I'm in a good mood. You gotta hear this Jack. There's one of them German weapons out in the forest, completely abandoned."

"I know. Yzak here says he's the one who owns it."

"Really?" asked Charley.

"Yeah. He also says he's from the future."

"The future?" both men said at the time.

"Look, I don't have time for this. Something is seriously fucked up here. The German's shouldn't be here."

"Whadya' mean they shouldn't be here?" asked Charley

"I know that the Germans never invaded the US," said Yzak as he stood up. "Somehow they got those weapons, and now everything's been changed." Yzak then noticed another newspaper sitting on a tiny reading table next to his chair. The cover picture featured Hitler and a cadre of various important-looking Nazis. Tucked into the corner was another black-clad SS officer, but this time, Yzak was able to recognize the face. "Hang on a sec. I know that is!" he shouted.

"Who?" asked Vin

"His name's Hibiki. Ulen Hibiki!"


	3. Chapter III

Chapter III

Dr. Hibiki stood in the oval office of the White House, examining the various leather-bound volumes that filled the bookshelves around the room. He wore the black uniform and insignia of an SS Oberfuhrer (senior colonel). On his right, General Alfried Jodl was looking over a large map of the United States. "Intelligence has confirmed two American divisions are amassing along the Ohio River and another in southern Virginia. It appears their counter-offensive will be launched within a matter of days."

"I assume you will be taking the necessary steps to counter them?" asked Hibiki.

"Of course. Now, according to my latest briefing, the squadron you had modified has performed almost flawlessly in the field tests. The Fuhrer is most pleased, with your progress." The squadron the general was referring to was a group of 20 Messerschmitt Bf-109's that Hibiki had outfitted with long-range radar and20mm beam cannons.

"Tell your Fuhrer that the squadron will soon be at his disposal. There are still preparations to be made before they are combat-ready. Now, there is another matter I wish to discuss with you General."

"I assume you wishto discusswhere the equipmentyou requested is."

"Precisely." replied Ulen.

"I'm afraid we can no longer allow you to be furnished with equipment when we do not know what purpose it is serving."

"That's never been a problem before."

"The situation has changed," replied the general. "We must now protect our interests more carefully. The Fuhrer expects a full report on your project."

"That's not possible at this point. Tell your Fuhrer that he will receive a report when my project is completed."

The general took a long pause before and looked at the Doctor in an irritated fashion. "We are growing tired of your secrecy. You and your men have taken an oath to defend Germany and the Reich. That means that you have chosen to obey the wishes of the Fuhrer without question."

"Without question? You are being foolish general. We take our oath to protect Germany very seriously, but that does mean we will act without thought. We may be loyal to you, but we still act on our own inclinations." The general screwed his face and attempted to talk before being interrupted. "Before you choose to alter our agreement, you may wish to consider what would happen if any of the weapons I have given you were to fall into the hands of the allies."

The general's face began to turn red as he shouted at Ulen. "Are you trying to threatening me?!"

"I'm not threatening you, I'm simply opening your eyes to the reality my presence here. Our pact will stand as originally agreed upon." Ulen began walking towards the door but stopped as he entered the doorway. "The need the equipment delivered within 48 hours. When that is done, I will hand over control of the new squadron to you."

Upon realizing that he could not win, the general reluctantly agreed, justifying his capitulation by saying that he needed the squadron for the counter-offensive.

When Hibiki arrived back in New York, he was taken via staff-car to a large warehouse like facility. He was greeted outside the barbed-wire gates by one of his colleagues dressed in a gray SS tunic and peaked cap, Dr. Ben Zorin. Accompanying him was a pair of sub-machinegun toting Waffen SS guards. "Well, are we getting the equipment?" asked Ben.

"Was there any doubt in your mind?" asked Hibiki sarcastically.

"I should take that as a yes?"

"It took a great deal of negotiation, but the general has finally seen things our way."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Zorin as he and the other man began walked through a pair of large steel doors, above which was a machinegun nest.

"I promised him the use of the squadron I modified."

"The 109's? You can't be serious!"

"Of course not. I'm not about to give the Germans more weapons they can turn against us. This is merely a means to an end. As long as I promise to give them what they want, they'll supply us with our remaining necessities."

"So, then what exactly is your plan from this point?"

"Simple," said Hibiki as the pair rounded a corner and walked into a large room with a group of lab-coat wearing scientists working on various control panels. "We will continue with work as planned. I agreed to give the General the planes after our equipment is delivered. By the time he's ready to receive them, we'll be gone."

"Sir, you should have a look at this." said one of the scientists. "Power module 3's output has dropped by 4."

"Isolate it and locate the fault. I want to run a test sequence as soon as possible." The doctor then turned back to Zorin. "You must have more faith in me. Everything will come together in due time."

Ben paused for a moment. "Yes sir. I have just one other question."

"Yes?"

"What should we do with the Gundam pilot?"

"We still have use for him. Get him some medical attention, andcontinue to extract information about the operating system."

"Yes sir." replied Zorin.

"And make sure that the Germans don't find out. We don't need further complications."

Vin sat in a chair opposite to Yzak, his arms folded on the headboard. Charely was standing his back to the boy while Jack paced the room. "So let me get this straight," said Vin. "This guy Hibiki is from the future too."

"Yeah."

"Okay, now what your telling me is that he's the one who gave the Germans them a…whadya' call em?"

"Mobile suits."

"Right, mobile suits, andaccordingto your history books, theGermans should never actually have invaded?"

"I don't see what's so difficult about that concept to grasp."

"Hey, watch it you little son of a…" Vin rose from his chair and lunged at Yzak, only to be restrained by Charley and Jack. "Just take it easy Vin."

"Well tell this little SOB to just shut his mouth with the insults. If he doesn't quit it, I'm gonna have to remove his teeth with my fist!"

"Hey!" shouted Yzak.

"Look, just calm down everyone." said Charley in an attempt to pacify everyone. "We need to be a little more productive here. Now Yzak, you mentioned earlier that you have a friend with a suit like you. Dearka right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I think I might know where he is."


	4. Chapter IV

Chapter IV

Dearka lay against the cold, tile floor of his cell, trying to nurse the various bruises and cuts all over his body. He had just come out of interrogation at the hands of two of Hibiki's men, and when he would give them no new information about the Buster's operating system, they attempted to "convince" him.

Dearka had landed on Earth at the same time Yzak did in 1942, but he had the misfortune of landing near New York City. Both he and his Gundam were captured and brought back to Ulen's facility without the knowledge or approval of the Germans. He had only been there a few days, and in that time Hibiki and his men had managed to break his body, but not his spirit. It seemed as though no matter how many times they hit him, he also some smartass retort to spit at them. However, he was now beginning to run out of names and insults for his captors.

The blonde-haired Gundam pilot tried to sit up, finding it incredibly difficulty with a huge bruise on his chest and a broken rib. It was all just part of the same routine. For the past few days, they had removed him from his cell, tied him to a chair, and beat him senseless until he agreed to give up any information. So far they had only basic knowledge of buster's operating system, but they weren't done.

"Ahhh." Cried Dearka as he grabbed the side of his ribcage and leaned back down onto the floor. "Shit." He opened an eye lazily and stared up at the door. He saw the silhouetted figures of two SS guards talking in faint German. They were interrupted by a third figure, which Dearka recognized as being one of Hibiki's men because he spoke in English. "Open the door. We need to see the prisoner."

"Jahwul."

The door opened and in stepped Zorin. "My men tell me that you still refuse to talk, despite their best efforts to convince you."

Dearka chuckled, coughing up some phlegm and blood onto the floor. "It's just all the more incentive for me to keep my mouth shut."

"Yes, we feel somewhat the same way. That's why we're going to have to do something different. Bring the physician." he ordered the guards.

"Jah, mein Herr." said one of the guards.

"Trying to kill me with kindness?" asked Dearka sarcastically.

"We still need you Mr. Elthman. We can't kill you." Zorin stepped into the doorway and turned back to Gundam pilot. "Yet."

XXXXX

Yzak and Charley stood motionless in a darkened alley, their backs pressed firmly against the brick wall of building labeled _Leehan's Café_. Yzak was dressed in some clothes he borrowed from Jack, a pair of jeans, work boots, and old flannel shirt and a newsy cap. Pasted to the wall of the cafe were a number of posters put up by the Germans. Some informed citizens of occupation regulations while others extolled Germany as truly being America's friend. Most curious of all, though, were several posters imploring young men to join the newly formed Legion of George Washington, an American unit of the Waffen-SS. In one poster, a strapping young SS-man pointed to the onlooker while the Stars and Stripes hung in the background and boldy declared YOUR PLACE IS HERE! Another depicted a similar-looking young man holding his arm up to heroically defend American children against a barbarous looking black man and a swarthy Jewish plutocrat. The caption read AMERICA CALLS TO YOU! DEFEND HER AGAINST BARBARITY AND JEWRY!

A German Kubelwagen drove down the street, four soldiers sitting in the front and back seats. When the car had passed, Charley peaked his head out around the corner. "Alright, it's safe." he beckoned Yzak to come follow him. "So do you know what they do at this warehouse?" asked Yzak.

"Not really. All we do know is that they must do some pretty important shit there." replied Charley as he opened the door to the café. "There's guards covering every inch of the entrance, and damn near every-week they're getting some new trucks coming in."

"Hmm." muttered Yzak as he stepped into the dank, musty food joint. It seemed abandoned. The table were stripped, the mirrors were smashed, and the floorboards were coming loose. "What the hell are we doing here?" asked the silver-haired boy.

"Just a sec." said Charley. The older man walked over to a small door in the corner which Yzak assumed led to a basement. He then proceeded to raise his fist and tapped a specific rhythm on the door. The door opened and out stepped a short young women of oriental descent. "Charley, thank God you're alright."

"Yeah, they can't get rid of me that easy. There's someone I need you to meet. This is Yzak. Yzak, this is Miko."

Yzak stepped forward and offered his hand to the young women. She grasped it and shook it somewhat weakly. "So what's the deal with the kid." asked Miko.

"Take us downstairs and I'll explain everything."

"Hey, can I trust this kid?" asked Miko. Yzak was again becoming aggravated people talking over him.

"Hey, he escaped from the Germans. That's good enough for me."

"Alright, let's go." Miko turned and led the two down a staircase into a small decrepit old cellar. In the corner was a small door. The oriental girl opened it and walked into a small storage room with a few shelves that had some broken and empty jars on them. Pushed up against the back wall was a large bookcase like shelf. Miko swiveled out of the way, revealing large hole in the wall that led into another room. The three got down on their hands and knees and crawled into the room. When Miko emerged, she turned on an overhead light, revealing large room filled with radio equipment, cases of guns, ammo, grenades, and a cot in the corner where a man was sleeping.

"What is this place?" asked the gundam pilot.

"One of the entrances to the underground. They were built a long time ago by Irish immigrants to hide from nativist violence. Now they serve as the base for the resistance." Charley the turned his head towards the cot. "Hey Mike, get up!" yelled Charley.

The stranger snapped up in his bed and jerked his head around to find Charley. He then yawned before speaking "Ahhh, good to see yah again Charley." said Mike in a heavily Irish accented voice. He yawned again. "Who the hell's the kid."

"I'm not a kid! My name's Yzak!"

"Whatever." replied the Irishman in a tone demonstrating he didn't care. "So what's the good news?" said Mike as he swiveled out of bed, placing his feet on the floor."

"Well, I thought you should meet this guy. He got away from the Germans."

"So?"

"Well, he also has one of them German mobile suits."

"Mobile what?" inquired Mike.

Charley sighed. "One of them robots."

Mike's and Miko's eyes suddenly widened. "He has one of those German robots?!"

"It's called a Gundam." said the silver-haired boy.

"A what?"

"A GUN-DAM, dumbass."

"Fuck you."

"Shut up Mike." Charley walked over to a small workbench strewn with various papers and picked up a pair of binoculars. "Well anyway, Yzak, this is Miko Himura and Mike Leehan. There my best intelligence officers. Well, I think it's best if we keep introductions short. C'mon, I think you should have a look at that facility."

Yzak nodded and watched as Charley walked past him and out the tunnel back into the cellar. He followed the resistance fighter back into the main barroom and up a flight of stairs that lead up to the roof. "Alright, keep your head down." ordered Charley. The two crouched down, inching their way up to the edge off the roof, and then laying against the soft gravel with their heads peaking over the roof's facade. "Okay that's the warehouse over there." said Charely, handing the binoculars to Yzak and pointing in a certain direction to his left. Yzak slowly brought the binoculars to eyes and brought them into focus on the facility, which was in fact a series of large warehouses with a barbed-wire fence running around it.

He focused in on the main gate, which was barbed-wire on a wooden frame with a machinegun nest in front of it. Several guards armed with Schmeisser submachine-guns and Kar 98 rifles patrolled back and forth. Inside the gate, Yzak could see more soldiers and a door leading into what he thought was the barracks."

"So what makes you think Dearka is in there?"

"Well, a couple of days ago, something crashed near the Brooklyn Bridge. When we saw it, we thought it was a plane or some shit. But later, some of our people scoped it out and found that all the wreckage was gone. Then, another one of our guys said he saw a huge friggin' flatbed pulling something into the facility all covered with tarps. It's possible your friend was whatever crashed there."

"Well, there's only one way to know for sure. We need to get inside."

"We?! Inside?! Hey listen buddy you wanna do that, you're on your own."

"Listen, I agreed to help you in any way I can, and now it's time for you to return the fucking favor."

Charley turned onto his back and covered his face with his hands. He then reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pack of lucky strikes. He drew one the white tubes from the package and put it between his lips. He was about to light it when he closed his Zippo and pulled the cigarette out of his mouth.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do."


	5. Chapter V

Chapter V

Yzak looked at himself in the long wall mirror beside Mike's cot in the underground below Leehan's Café. Miko and some other members of the resistance had managed to steal a German staff car and a couple of gray SS uniforms for Yzak and Charley and now the silver-haired boy was pulling down the loose gray tunic, trying to get out the wrinkles. On the cot beside him were his clothes he had borrowed from Jack, a peaked cap, and an iron cross which Yzak still couldn't figure out how to put on. Charley had his back turned to the boy and was loading a pair of P-38 pistols. Yzak listened as to the metallic clanking sound as Charley slid the magazines into the handles. He reached down and picked up the Iron cross, holding it by its straps. "Hey Charley!" The older man turned his head. He was dressed in the same style uniform as Yzak.

"How the hell do you put this on?"

Charley stuffed the pistol into his left hand holster and sauntered over to the boy. "Alright, let's see here. I seen how the Germans wear it. It's suppose to go around your neck." He got behind the boy and turned up his collar which choked Yzak somewhat. He then proceeded to place the cross around his neck and tie the two ends of the cord together. "There we go."

"You got it?" asked the silver haired boy.

"It's as good as it's gonna get." Replied Charley as he turned down the boy's collar, stuffed the loose ends of the cord underneath it, and handed him one of the pistols. "I assume you know how to use one of these?" he asked sarcastically as Yzak grabbed the pistol. "You don't spend five years in the military without learning a few things about handguns." As the pair turned to the exit, both Miko and Michael came rushing in. "You guys, you're not going to believe this!"

"Try us." Replied Charley.

"It's Hitler!"

"Yeah, what about him?" inquired Yzak.

"He's here!"

"What do you mean 'he's here'?"

"He's here in New York!

"He is?"

"Yes! CBS is scheduled to do a radio broadcast about his visit in a few minutes."

"Get the tubes warmed up woman!" shouted Mike.

Miko walked over to the work bench Charley stood next to, upon which rested and old radio set. She turned a small knob which lit up the tuning panel and a sound of grainy static filled the room. Yzak remembered a time Athrun decided to take one of these apart and how he explained that it took a few minutes for the vacuum tubes to get warmed up. He sat down on the cot and began tapping his foot impatiently.

The radio finally warmed up and Miko began turning the tuner to get a correct signal. She struck gold when the four of them heard the sound of an orchestral marching tune. They crowded closer to the set as someone began to speak.

_I'm Walter Cronkite, and this is CBS' News on Parade! America and Germany side by side in the fight for freedom! Today marked a pivotal turning point in the history of our great nation as the German chancellor Adolph Hitler made his first visit to home of the brave. He arrived in New York City earlier today at an undisclosed location where he was greeted by city fathers. His arrival was made public when he was escorted to the Empire State Building for warm reception and to take in the view from the top floor. Later, the Fuhrer paid a visit our Lady Liberty where Governor Poletti presented him with the keys to the city. _

_Herr Hitler's tour will be crowned off tomorrow evening when he will be honored with a ticker tape parade through Time's Square. The German Chancellor will then present a speech in Madison Square Garden outlining his vision for a prosperous alliance between America and the German Reich. _

_Together, we will finally put Americans back to work and free ordinary citizens from the grip of financial profiteers. Never before have the parasitic elements that have racked our economy since 1929 had more to fear!_

_America and Germany! Two great nations marching together on the road towards a better tomorrow! _

The four of them stood in silence contemplating the broadcast they had just heard. "Well...shit." said Mike. "This is going to complicate things a bit."

Yzak stood. "Well, this still doesn't compromise our plans!"

"Listen you idiot. If Hitler's here…." began Miko before being cut off.

"I don't care if Hitler is here. At the moment, my only concern is finding my friend! I'm not going to leave to die at the hands of these bastards!" Yzak turned his back to other people in the room, and let out an angry sigh.

"Calm down for a second." said Charley, trying to quell the fiery young pilot. "If Hitler is here, that may or may not make things harder. We don't how his presence here will affect our mission, but we're still going to find your friend. At the moment, his life if more valuable than anything."

Yzak turned back to all of them and blinked. He then let out a breath as he stared down at the floor and then back at Charley before turning back around to the cot. He began to rummage through his civilian attire and produced a pair of small communicators. He handed one to Mike. "This is a two communicator. We'll call you when we're inside the facility. To send a message, just press this button on the side and talk." Mike nodded.

"Alright." Charley turned and was about to enter the tunnel when he paused and began scratching his chin. "Hmmm." he mumbled. "Hitler's arrival may not be such a bad thing."

XXXXX

Hibiki sat silently at his desk, looking over some reports and making notes on a small pad of paper. On his left, Zorin was working diligently on a small control panel. Directly in front of him was a large, sliding steel door with thick, glass windows on either side. A trio of blurred gray figures walked up past the windows and began to slide the door open. It was general Jodl and two of his escorts. "By executive order of the Fuhrer, the new squadron is to be prepared for his immediate personal inspection." Hibiki looked up slowly at the general. "Your equipment has been delivered. The planes are to be immediately transferred to Luftwaffe regional command headquarters in Albany." Hibiki slowly rose from his chair and placed his fisted hands on the desk.

"These planes are complicated pieces of machinery. You must give me time to prepare them for transport."

"How long?" asked the general, sounding slightly hostile.

"No less than six hours."

"Six hours?!" When the scientist did not change his expression, Jodl realized that he was not about to compromise. "Very well. Six hours." The General turned and walked out of the room, his two escorts tagging along behind.

"I thought you said you weren't going to give them to him." said Zorin. Ulen turned to the weary scientist.

"Begin immediate implementation of the new equipment. We're leaving in the morning."

XXXXXX

Yzak sat in the passenger's seat of the staff car, his elbow resting on the windowsill while Charley drove slowly, yet deliberately through the night, making various stops and turns.

"So Yzak."

"Eh?"

"Tell me about the future that you live in."

Yzak's eyes widened as he dropped his hand from his chin. "I don't know where to begin."

"Well, tell me about Zaft."

"That story is pretty long."

"We've got time."

The gundam-pilot took in a breath. "Alright. As I said, I'm from about 300 years in the future. During my time, there's a war going on between two factions, the Naturals and the Coordinators."

"Naturals and Coordinators?" inquired Charley.

"Coordinators are a race of humans who are born with special genetic enhancements. Naturals…well Naturals are naturally born."

"So, am I to assume that I would be considered a natural?"

"Yes." said Yzak solemnly.

"And these coordinators, are you perchance one of them."

Again Yzak spoke in solemn manner, just barely mumbling the words. "Yes."

"What?"

"Yes!"

"So why are you at war?"

"Because…" Yzak stopped. Living in Nazi occupied territory had made him remember certain things about the Second World War. One of the things was the concentration camps. Jule had always found it preposterous and sickening the way the Nazis had slaughtered millions for their race and religion. Yet, this had all helped him come to a realization about himself and his beliefs.

"I don't know."

"You're fighting in a war you don't even know the cause of."

"That's not what I meant! What I'm trying to say is that…"

"Save it. You can tell me later."

The facility was coming into view. Charley slowed the car down as it approached the front gate. A guard marched up to the driver's side, slinging his K-98 over his shoulder. "Your identification papers, herr."

"ID papers?!" shouted Charley. "We are here by orders of the Fuhrer himself to inspect this facility!"

"I'm sorry herr, but Oberfuhrer Hibiki's orders are that no one can pass without proper identification."

"Are you suggesting that this Hibiki's orders is more important than the Fuhrer's?!"

"No herr, it's just…."

"Let me warn you of something. If anymore of our time is wasted, we will reprimands to your commander. I'm sure he will not be happy to hear of your disobedience to the Fuhrer."

"Yes herr! Open the gate!" Two other guards grabbed the gate and swung it open, while the soldier at the car stepped back and rendered a stiff-armed salute. Charley pulled in and turned the corner. He continued to drive until he came to a pair of large steel doors. He stopped the car, and the two stepped out. The guards there brought themselves to attention and rendered salutes. The pair of false Nazis returned their salutes as they entered the compound. When they had made sure the doors were closed, Yzak pulled the small hand held communicator and spoke into it.

"We're in."


	6. Chapter VI

Chapter VI

The normally quiet, calm little cabin in Brooklyn where Yzak had his first encounter with the American resistance was now filled with about 15 resistance fighters forming a circle around Jack and Vin. They chattered away with moderate noise until Jack started to wave his arms up and down to silence them. "Alright. Everyone shut up." The conversing of the crowd slowly died and everyone turned their attention to the 17-year-old. "Now listen up. We just got word from Mike Leehan that we have some people inside that German facility in the city. Charley and this new guy Yzak are scoping it out right now."

"Well, what're they doing there?" asked an anonymous voice. Vin turned to the direction of the question.

"We think there may be a prisoner in there, one who could prove useful to us."

"Yeah, that guy I told you about, Yzak, has a friend they think might have been captured by the Germans."

"What? What the hell is Charley doin' risking his neck for some fucking stranger?"

"Listen, this is much bigger than that. These two guys have access to those robots. If we rescue his friend, this means we could have two of them for our use. Now, the reason you're all here is because we need some volunteers."

"For what?"

"We need at least eight people for a possible attack on the facility."

"What? Are you fucking crazy!" called out someone before the cabin erupted in protest.

"I said shut up!" shouted Jack over the voices of his comrades. "Now listen…we need people who are willing to provide some cover if our guys need bailing out."

"C'mon. You expect us to get ourselves killed for some kid we don't even know?"

"No, I don't," said Jack sounding frustrated with their insubordination. "Here's what I expect. Our leader is in there, and if he gets into trouble, he expects us to help him. Now, I know I'm going to help him."

"Yeah, me too." added Vin.

"All you need to decide is whether or not you're going to help us."

The room stayed silent. Jack and Vin looked around at all of their compatriots. "Now, any volunteers?" asked Jack.

Slowly, one by one, everyone raised their hand.

XXXXXX

It had been about two days since Hibiki's men had last beat Dearka. This was strange, as he had come to normally expect an interrogation session every day. He sat on the cold floor of his cell upright, his back propped up against the wall and his legs lying straight out in front of him. His bruises had had some time to heal and he could see again out of his left eye which had swelled shut for a few days. Again, he could here the sounds of the two SS guards chatting away in German. He was alone, silently contemplating the situation.

_Maybe this is the end. Maybe I'm supposed to die here. _He sighed heavily. _Even if I make it out of here alive, how the hell do I get back to my own time? _For all his life, Dearka had always tried to make a reputation for himself as a badass. He was never one to accept someone else's terms. But now, actually felt hapless. He felt like a child who wanted nothing more to feel the warm embrace of his mother. He tried to hold the back the tears but was failing. This whole mess was finally getting the better of him. "Oh God." he said tearfully as he slumped down and lay against the tile. He coughed slightly before trying to close his eyes.

_Please God, just let me die._

His plea for peace however was interrupted when he heard the sound of two additional voices shouting orders at the guards. "You! Open this door."

"I'm sorry herr, but doctor Hibiki ordered…"

"I don't give a damn about this Hibiki! Now we have direct orders from the Fuhrer himself to inspect this facility and his authority overrides this Hibiki's! Now open this fucking door!"

There was a silence between the two parties for a brief period of time before the guard responded. "Jawuhl." He fumbled around with a ring of keys before he found the right one and slid it into the lock. Dearka cringed as he heard the sound of the bolt unlocking, as he knew he was too weak to fight back. The first figure that stepped in was Charley, so Dearka assumed that he was just some SS stooge, but when the second figure arrived, Dearka's jaw nearly dropped. The silver-haired boy slowly turned his head and saw his friend in a state which was most displeasing to his eye.

_Dearka…_he thought. There was a sudden lump forming in his throat. When Yzak saw his battered friend, every spiteful emotion that a person can muster came to his mind. He wanted nothing more that to kill every single Nazi he could lay his hands on. He wanted to find Hitler himself and kill him. He wanted….he wanted Hibiki. He wanted Hibiki to feel the pain that Dearka was feeling right now. The feelings of rage, however, quickly subsided and were replaced with sadness when he realized that he couldn't do anything at this point. He choked back the tears and walked over to his bloodied and broken comrade, kneeling down and placing his mouth close to his ear. "Don't worry. We're coming for you." Dearka managed a small smile and then closed his eyes and fell asleep. He then arose and turned back to Charley. He nodded and the pair exited from the room. "We've seen all we need to see here." said the older man. The then turned and exited from whence they came.

XXXXXX

"The new equipment is ready as you requested. As soon as the first test run is over, we can prepare for the actual thing."

"Execellent" replied Hibiki to one of his white lab-coat clad comrades. "Today marks the beginning of a new era for the human race. What we have created is far greater than any coordinator."

"Sir," called out a voice from behind. "There's something you should have a look at here." Ulen turned to see Zorin pointing to a series of television screens that dotted the wall. The doctor walked over and gazed up at them as Ben pointed to the screen second from the left. "I think we have intruders."

The two of them observed a strange pair of SS guards, one of whom had long silver-hair draped down from under his cap.

"I think you're right."

"There shouldn't be any officers in this facility. I'll sound the alarm." as Zorin tried to step away, Hibiki grabbed him by the arm. "No wait. Let's just see what they're going to do."

XXXXXX

After ten or fifteen minutes, Yzak had calmed down and begun to speak with the resistance leader. "What is it you think they're building here."

"I'm not sure. Our best guess was that this was a weapons facility, but as to what weapons they're building, we're at a loss."

"Seems hardly surprising." replied the silver haired boy. "Ulen Hibiki was somewhat of a genius, or better yet, is somewhat of a genius. Whatever he's constructing here, is anyone's guess."

"Why exactly is he a genius?"

"He was a great genetic scientist."

"Was he a natural?"

"Yes, but he made great leaps for the coordinators. Some say he attempted to create an "ultimate coordinator" but things went disastrously wrong, and….well, no one knows really knows what happened to his creation." Of course he was lying. After the events on the Mendel colony, he knew exactly what hadhappened tohis so-called failed experiment.

"So what do you think he's providing for the Germans? You think he's making coordinators for them?"

Yzak stopped. He didn't approve of the word "making", but it occurred to him that this was a real possibility. "It could be."

The pair turned a corner that opened into a very large room with various control panels and a large pair of steel bolted doors on one side. In the room, there were four black- uniformed Allegemeine SS guards, complete with MP-40 submachine-guns. They bore striking resemblance to the officer whom Yzak first encountered in the forest on the first day, but they had fewer awards on their tunics. As the two approached the steel doors, the four guards surrounded them, their machine guns at the ready. Charley cleared his throat before speaking. "By direct order of the Fuhrer, we are to inspect this facility. Now we demand you show us what is through that door."

"We're sorry. But Dr. Hibiki has ordered that no one can enter through these doors without special clearance."

Yzak immediately found it strange that these guards spoke without German accents, but continued to allow Charley to speak.

"Now listen here! I am growing tired of hearing of this Hibiki fellow. Either you allow us into that room, or…"

"I'm afraid your Fuhrer's orders will have to wait. We should warn you, doctor Hibiki gave us permission to use deadly force if necessary. It is our wish that we need not use it. Don't try to threaten us herr Standartenfuhrer."

"Don't point that at me." said Yzak to one of the guards, pushing the barrel of his weapon away from his body. The guard laughed slightly before placing his gun back into its original position in front of Yzak's chest. "Or what…" he inquired mockingly. It was his last mistake.

Like lightning, Yzak grabbed the barrel of the gun and jerked it out of his hands. He then spun around, getting behind the man and smashing him in the head with the weapon. As the guard fell, the silver-haired assailant dropped down and spun into a low-spin kick, knocking the footing out from under a second guard. Upon seeing what his hot-headed comrade was doing, Charley immediately punched one of his would-be captors in the face, grabbed the machinegun out of his hands, and placed around the neck of the second guard. The guard struggled and knocked Charley's cap off, but he continued to squeeze. He squeezed as hard as he could until he heard a snap, and then released the guard's lifeless body and let it fall to the floor. Yzak, meanwhile, had just gotten up from his low spin when he saw the second guard trying to stand. He immediately reared up his elbow and dropped directly on his head. The guard fell face flat and didn't move.

"Well, that's some fancy hand-to-hand combat if I've ever seen it. Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"Aprililus Auxilium Military Academy. Now, I don't know if anyone heard us, so let's get good look inside there before they find this."

Charley nodded and collected his cap. The two walked over to the doors, lifted the large steel locking bolt, and slid the two doors opened.

What they saw astounded them. Inside a large open area, not unlike that of a factory, there lay a huge generator that stretched down from one end of the floor to the other, covering at least 100 yards. They craned their heads upwards to see a multitude of catwalks above them and a series of swastika banners draped down the ceiling. The then turned their heads back down to again gaze upon the immensity of the device.

"What the hell… is that?" asked Charley in a most ungracious manner.

"Well, it's certainly not something for making coordinators. I think it's some sort of generator."

"You're quite right mister Jule!" called out a mysterious voice. Suddenly, a group of guards emerged from various places, pointing weapons at the two. Yzak turned behind him to see Hibiki standing on a catwalk above, his arms stretched out and grasping the railing of him. A number of men in white lab coats stood on either side of him. "Hibiki!" yelled the gundam pilot.

"Indeed. As you can see, I am very much alive." The doctor paused for a moment as he lifted his hands from the railing and placed them behind his back. "Not only that, but I am also about to make history." The doctor walked over to a staircase that led down to the factory floor and approached the pair of newly made prisoners.

"Or should I say, re-make history?"


	7. Chapter VII

Chapter VII

Charley and Yzak stood with their hands held in the air, about ten or twelve SS guards surrounding them. Neither bothered to count. "Remove their weapons." commanded Hibiki. Two guards stepped forward and opened their holsters, removing their P-38's. "Please, won't you come with me to my office?" asked the doctor gingerly. The two said nothing as they began to slowly walk behind Ulen, followed by four guards. They followed him up the stairs onto the catwalk, and into the large room filled with working scientists. They walked past all the working men in lab-coats and through the large steel door that led to Hibiki's office. Ulen walked to his desk and sat down, then motioned for the guards to leave the room. The prisoners watched as the SS-men closed the steel door, then turned back to their captor.

"Are you sure it's wise to leave us alone with you?" asked Charley sarcastically.

"Oh, I'm not worried. I know you won't kill me. At least not until I've explained everything to you."

"Fair enough." said Charley, looking over at his silver-haired comrade. The Gundam pilot huffed and leaned up against a wall. He fixed a dead serious stare on the doctor while Charley pulled up a chair and sat on it backwards in a straddle position.

"Well," said Ulen as he pointed to Charley. "Most of what I'm going to say won't make much sense to you, so please bear with me. As you can see, Mr. Jule is anxious to learn. Charley rolled his eyes slightly.

"You'd be surprised at what I've learned in the past few days."

"We'll see if you can keep up." replied Hibiki. "Well, let's start from the beginning. I'm sure you're wondering how I'm alive and well in this era of time. Well, to start with, the so-called disaster at my lab was with the ultimate coordinator, that was my doing."

"Your doing?" asked Yzak inquisitively.

"Yes. You see, I destroyed my lab so as to continue work with research."

"And what research would that be."

"My studies in temporal physics. You see, my genetics research program was nothing more than a front for it."

"Temporal physics?"

"The study of time and the forces that affect it. My genetics program served as a valuable façade for my studies in the field. It got the money and support I needed to continue work on my project. However, as racial tensions between coordinators and naturals escalated, more and more came to be expected from my false research, and my façade began to interfere with my project. And so, I destroyed my own lab, stole the funding I needed, and continued my work in secret."

"Pardon my rudeness, but, this project you speak of. What the fuck is that exactly?" interjected Charley.

Ulen stood up and placed his hands behind his back.

"Time travel."

Suddenly, Yzak and Charley's eyes began to widen.

XXXXXXX

Jack placed a round drum clip into the magazine catch of his Thompson. Miko was sitting on the cot next to him, tapping her foot impatiently. She held in her hands a colt .45, the slide retracted and the magazine sitting in her lap. They and eight other resistance fighters were in the underground below Leehan's Café, preparing for what they had come to believe was an inevitable assault on the well-guarded German facility. Jack maneuvered his way through the various people and sat on the cot next to her. He licked his lips and let out a breath. "Listen. I…"

"You don't have to say anything Jack. I know you're not the emotional type. I'll be just fine."

"It's not that, it's just…look, you guys have really been the only family I've ever had since…" he began to choke. "since the SS came to my house." He turned and looked at Miko. "I don't think I can promise that I'll bring Charley back alive, but I will promise that I will fight like a fucking wolverine if that's what it takes to stop the Germans." The two smiled at each other before being approached by Vin.

"The trucks are ready. Hey Miko, you gonna' be alright?" he asked out of genuine concern.

"I'm fine. I'll be alright." The towering resistance fighter smiled as he followed his ten other comrades in arms out of the secret basement, down a narrow stretch of tunnel, and up into a large garage, inside of which were two ford trucks. "Well, I suppose now we just wait for the call." said Vin.

"I suppose so." replied Jack.

XXXXXXX

Hibiki's office was silent as Yzak and Charley stared at him, their eyes wide and mouths almost agape. Hibiki wore a strange smile on his face. "Time travel?" said Yzak weakly. "You tried to create a time-machine?"

"I didn't try. I did create a time-machine."

"What?"

"Yes. While attention was distracted by the conflict, I set up my new lab in secret near the ruins of Junius 7. There, my scientists and I continued our work. Towards the end of your petty little war, we were completing our temporal distortion generator. Unfortunately, there was a battle that took place near there, and the lab was destroyed in an explosion. Luckily, the generator had already been activated, so we weren't killed, but the explosion caused the release of a huge amount temporal energy. Anything caught in the blast was hurtled back in time randomly." Ulen paused to let it all sink in. "You don't seem surprised Mr. Jule."

"Well, I'm here aren't I? I suppose I'll have to believe your story. But now answer me this. Why are you helping the Germans? Why do they have Ginns?"

"As I said, we we're hurtled back in time randomly. Because of our close proximity to each other, me and most of my men were sent back to 1935, and we happen to land in Berlin. After a few days, we realized what had happened, and we felt it may be impossible to ever get back to our own time. But when we found a Ginn, we came up with a plan."

"You gave it to the Germans."

"In exchange for the resources we needed. Given the limitations of twentieth century technology, it took much more time to construct the generator, but knowing that Germany was also the most advanced scientific nation at the time, we knew it was entirely possible."

"So you gave the Ginn to Hitler. He built more of them, and he easily conquered Europe and the parts of the U.S.

"You're very perceptive. England was the first to fall, then the Soviet Union, then of course the eastern United States."

"But if that's what happened, then what do you have to return to? You've done nothing but ensure total victory for the Third Reich for the next God knows how long!" shouted Yzak.

"Don't be naïve. Of course I realize the implications of helping Hitler, but you must understand he is not my ally. He and the Nazis are merely a means to an end. Once my work here is done, I will of course reverse the damage I've done."

"But what do you gain from this? What purpose will this time machine serve?"

"I see that you also lack the ability of foresight. Can't you see the great benefits that could come from careful manipulation of history? The mistakes of the past can be fixed. We could stop Hitler from ever coming to power entirely."

"But what do YOU gain from this is what I want to know. Obviously, you want to reap the benefits." Yzak turned his back to the doctor.

"It is true that I wish to install myself to a powerful position, but at least I'm willing to admit my intentions. Besides, I see it as only being for the benefit of mankind. Not only that, but I can finally fix my greatest mistake of all, my so-called ultimate coordinator."

_Kira_! Thought Yzak.

"You know, we don't have to be enemies. I may have use for you in my new world order. But your friend here, I'm afraid he's been nothing but a nuisance." Hibiki opened a desk drawer and reached his hand into it, producing from it a Luger with a silencer screwed onto the barrel. He then pointed it at Charley, who had now stood up, and pulled the trigger. The flash immediately caught Yzak's attention, who snapped his head in the direction of his comrade. He saw Charley staggering back, grasping his lower chest which was now bleeding profusely. He tried to stand but couldn't find the strength and ultimately fell backwards against the wall, slowly sliding down it. The gundam pilot rushed over to his fallen comrade and placed his hand by the side of his head. "Charley! Oh shit, oh fuck. Listen, you're going to be fine."

"No I'm not," he gurgled out. "I'm gonna' die, and we both know it."

"No. No, you're gonna live, just…"

"Shut. I'm not gonna' live, and that's why you gotta promise me this."

"Anything." said Yzak as he pulled Charley closer and embraced him.

"Put things back the way they should be. If you want to save me, fix history." Yzak said nothing as a tear rolled down his cheek. "I want my neighborhood back, Yzak." Slowly, Charley's breathing became more and more scarce, and eventually, it stopped.

Yzak hugged the dead man harder, and began to sob. Hibiki, pressed a small button on the intercom on his desk. Yzak turned his head back to Ulen who now held the gun on him. "I'm leaving here in three hours. I suggest that you think things over very carefully in that time." The four guards walked in. "Take him away." One of the guards walked up behind the silver-haired boy and brought the butt of his rifle down onto his head. Suddenly, everything turned black for Yzak.

XXXXXXX

Dearka had been lying fast asleep until rustling of the keys from the guard outside. The door opened and two guards walked in, each holding one Yzak's arms. They callously threw him to the ground and then turned and walked out. Dearka waited until he knew the door was locked to try and talk to his friend. He reached over and began to shake the unconscious body back and forth to try and provoke a reaction. "Yzak? Yzak? Are you alright." The blonde turned his friend over onto his stomach, and noticed the blood seeping out from underneath his silver hair. "Fuck. Fuck. C'mon buddy, wake up." He began to move his hand down his body until he stopped on top of one of the tunic pockets. There was a tiny, rectangular shaped lump formed inside the pocket. Dearka opened the flap and reached his hand inside, fumbled around for a few second, then removed the object. To his great delight, he saw himself holding a communicator. The tanned boy turned his head upwards and blew a kiss, forgetting for just a second about the condition of his friend. "Oh, thank you." he said. He then flipped open the communicator, pressed in a small red button and began to speak very quietly. "Hello," he whispered. "Hello, is there anyone there." A few seconds passed before he got a response.

"Hello? Charley is that you?"

"No, my name's Dearka."

"Dearka? Aren't you Yzak's friend?"

"Yes, yes. That's me."

"Well shit, what's happening in there?"

"Whadya' mean what's happening?"

"Listen, Yzak and a friend of ours said they were coming to try and get you out of there. What's going on now?"

"Well, if Yzak said he'd get me out of here, he certainly failed. He's being held prisoner with me."

The communicator went silent. On the other end of the line, Jack stood with a blank expression on his face. "Alright, listen Dearka. We're coming to get you. Just hold on for a little while longer." There was no response as Jack flipped the communicator closed and stuffed it in his vest pocket. He hopped onto the back of one of the trucks, and then turned to face his fellow resistance members. "Alright, the rescue operation is fucked. Our guys have been captured by the Germans, and we need to go help them. Everybody knows what to do?" The others all nodded their heads. "Then let's do this."


	8. Chapter VIII

Chapter VIII

The air outside the compund was pleasantly warm for SS Oberschutze (privates) Jorg Hauer and Walter March who sat at the machine gun nest outside the front gate of Hibiki's compound. They were tired and about to go off shift, so they decided to spend the last hour or so of their shift doing what they do best: smoking cigarettes and exchanging rude jokes with the other sentries.

They had reached the end of their packs, and decided to barter for more from the others on duty. As Jorg stood up to walk over and pry some cigarettes off his comrades on duty, both him and Walter heard the sound of something whipping through the air, like a stick flung by a kid, only much heavier. The whipping stopped and a clanking sound was heard, as though an aluminum can had just banged against the concrete. Before Walter or Jorg could react, a sudden explosion threw the pair from the nest head on into the others who were already falling from pieces of shrapnel. Suddenly, a roar of engines was heard and from around the corner came two trucks, the first plowing head on into the gate.

Gunfire erupted as the first truck screeched to a halt and turned slightly sideways while the second stopped just before hitting the tail end of the first. Resistance fighters began to pour out, among whom Jack was one of the first. He quickly unbelted a grenade, pulled the pin a lobbed it at the machine gun nest overlooking the main doors. The two soldiers flew forward and up as it went off, tumbling to the ground. The young insurgent immediately ducked behind the lead car and un-slung his Thompson. "Never thought you'd spend a Friday night like this, did ya!?" yelled Vin over the gunshots and bullets ricocheting.

"Of course! Don't you wonder why we kids have so much fun!" he replied. The two rose from behind their barrier and began firing at the oncoming SS soldiers.

XXXXXXX

Hibiki and his men were working feverishly at their controls, making final preparations for the activation of the generator. Zorin came running from around a corner and stood in front of Ulen. "Sir, insurgents. They're just outside the compound."

Hibiki paused for a moment and then looked up at his colleague. "We can't let them interfere with us. Continue with the preparations. Let the Germans deal with them."

"No! This operation is being shut down!" shouted a familiar voice.

Each member of Hibiki's party turned to see General Jodl flanked by four guards. "I am placing you under arrest and taking command of this facility."

"On what charges?"

"Withholding information vital to the security of the Reich and failure to obey the direct orders of the Fuhrer." The general stepped forward and stood but inches away from the doctor's face.

"Continue with my orders." said Hibiki to his men.

"You are hereby relieved, herr Oberfuhrer."

Hibiki's expression did not change as he quickly pulled his pistol from his belt and fired a round into the stomach of the General. Upon hearing this, several of Ulen's men pulled out their own pistols and fired at the guards, dropping the four before they had time to load their rifles. The general's eyes widened and he dropped down to his knees.

"I'm sorry general, but I am afraid this means the immediate termination of our alliance." He pointed the pistol and Alfried's head and squeezed the trigger. "Continue with your work." commanded Ulen and he holstered his weapon. Little did he realize, however, that Zorin was now gone from the room.

XXXXXXX

Since the last interrogation session, Dearka had gathered enough strength to try and make an escape. At present he stood at the side of the door, waiting for the arrival of another guard, for whom he was ready this time. This time he was ready. The gunshots outside had startled the guards, and they had decided to go see what the problem was. He had decided this was the time to act. The blond-haired gundam pilot waited patiently until he heard the tapping of boots against the tile. A shadow approached the door, and the same jingling of keys and sliding of the lock of was heard. The figure stepped into the room, and immediately, Dearka brought his fist down on top of him, knocking the man to ground. "Stop! Stop!" pleaded the man. Dearka hesitated as he recognized the face.

"Wait a fucking second! You're Zorin." he immediately grabbed the man by the collar and brought his face up to level with his. "What the fuck are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I'm here to help."

"What?" Dearka began to loosen his grip.

"I'm here to get you out of here. Your friend too." Dearka released the man's collar and allowed Zorin to stand, who turned and walked over to the wounded boy. He bent down to get a closer look at his head and Dearka followed, standing tall over the man. "Why are you helping us?" he asked.

"Because I work for Zaft. Help me with him." said Zorin as he lifted the silver-haired boy onto his shoulder. Dearka lifted Yzak's other arm and placed it over his shoulder around his neck, then raised an eyebrow "You work for Zaft?"

"Yeah. Captain Ben Zorin, Zaft military intelligence, special operations sector."

"Well….what're you doing here?"

"Well, that's a long story. Help me get him out of here, and I'll tell you. You think you can carry him on your own?" Dearka remained silent, wondering if he should trust this man. The man who had overseen his beatings. But then again, he was helping them here. Maybe it was time to put some blind faith to the test.

"Yeah." Dearka got beneath Yzak's chest, humped the boy onto his back, then turned him to carry him across his shoulders 2X4 style. Zorin un-holstered his pistol and peaked around the corner. He turned back to blonde boy and motioned for him to follow. Dearka turned to his side and hobbled out the door. "There's a medical bay down the hall, we'll take him there." Dearka huffed along while Zorin kept out in front. When they reached the end of the hall, they saw a door marked MEDIZINISCHE BUCHT. Zorin turned the doorknob, and slowly edged the door open. It was empty. _Must be in the barracks_ thought Zorin. "Bring him in." he said to Dearka. The Zaft agent holstered his pistol and lent the boy a hand in bringing in his unconscious friend. They laid him out on a cot and Zorin began to ransack the cupboards for some supplies. "Gimme' a hand. Look for some medical tape and gauze."

"Sure."

Ben returned to the cot with some antiseptic and some cotton swabs. "Now you lay down over there. I'll be with you in a second."

"No, I'm fine. Just…."

"I said go lay down."

Those words were final. Dearka walked over to a small stretcher in the corner and laid himself down on the stiff fabric. Zorin went to work sterilizing and bandaging Yzak's head gash, then turned to Dearka. He took out a small cotton pad and rubbed some antiseptic on it, then proceeded to dot and dab at the various cuts on all over Dearka's body. "Yeah, most of these have healed on their own. No point in wasting bandages." Ben gathered up his supplies and turned around to place them on counter when Dearka spoke "Uhhh, Captain Zorin?"

"You can call me Ben."

"So, how did you get here, Ben?"

"Oh shit. That's right, I said I'd tell you." He turned around and sat on a stool opposite Dearka, pulling a tooth pick out of one of his breast pockets and putting it in his mouth. "Where to begin…Well, first of all, get this right. Hibiki's a scientific genius, but he isn't exactly cunning."

"Whatya' mean?"

"Well, eventually Zaft caught on to his funneling of government funds into personal projects. The problem was that they couldn't prove it until they knew where the money was going. So that's where I come in. Zaft sent me undercover to look into Hibiki's operation. I got on his good side and he let me in on the whole operation, but before I could report back to Zaft, he went ahead and blew up his lab. It took me about a month before I found out where he had set up his new lab, and when I did, I was ready to destroy it this time."

"So what happened?" inquired Dearka.

"I planted a bomb, but Hibiki activated the generator before it went off. There was a huge release of temporal energy, and well, here we are."

"Yeah, I remember Hibiki telling me that much." Suddenly the communicator began to ring, and Dearka pulled it out of his pocket.

"Hey Dearka, are you there?!" shouted the voice he had talked to earlier.

"Yeah, I'm here. Who is this?"

"Oh sorry, that's right…" the voice was cut off as a burst of machine gun fire was heard. "Sorry, my name is Jack! I'm a friend of Yzak's! Listen, we need to know where the fuck you guys are!"

"We're in a medical bay. Yzak got hit pretty hard in the head."

"Well throw some water on him! We need you guys out here on the double!"

"Okay, we'll try to be out as soon as possible." As Dearka flipped the communicator closed, the two of them heard a groaning and saw their ally slowly rise from the stretcher. "Ohhhh…" Dearka stood and walked over to the Yzak, standing at the side and bending over to be at eye level with. "Hi."

"What the…hell happened?"

"You got thwacked on the head. Nothing serious, but you were out cold for a little while." The silver-haired boy turned his head slowly to see Zorin who still had his back turned to them. "Who's that?"

"Relax. His name is Ben and he's with Zaft."

"Zaft? What's he doing here?" Zoring smacked himself on the forehead and sighed.

"I don't have time to explain all this shit again. We've got two hours until Hibiki activates that generator and we still have a lot of work to do."

"What do we need to do?" asked Dearka.

"Well, first we need the gundams. I know where yours is." he said as he pointed to Dearka. "You okay to pilot Yzak?"

Yzak rubbed his forehead. "Put some aspirin in me and I'll be fine."

"I don't even know if we got time for that." said Dearka.

"We don't. Just get him up and let's get the hell out of here."

Dearka complied and helped Yzak to his feet. Though moved awkwardly at first, he got his coordination back pretty quickly.


	9. Chapter IX

Chapter IX

"Where the hell are those two?" shouted Miko at Vin as they continued to pepper down the area outside the barracks with fire.

"I don't know they said they'd be out of here as quick as they could!" he replied as he let loose with some more rounds from his Browning Automatic Rifle.

"Well, they better hurry! I don't how much longer we can hold them off." interjected Jack as he dropped the clip out of his Thompson and slammed another in. As he finished sliding back the loading mechanism, the Germans began wheeling out an enormous 50 mm anti-infantry cannon. "Fuck!" yelled Jack as the Germans began placing a clip in the magazine. They pulled back the charging lever and brought the piece into sight, but just as they were about to fire, bursts of machine-fire cut down members of the crew. Though the resistance fighters they couldn't see it, their new friends had just emerged from the compound and were opening with schmeisser fire. Ben pulled out a potato-masher grenade from his belt, unscrewed the fuse and sent it hurling at the soldiers. It exploded, covering the area in smoke just long enough for the three of them to charge down the center and behind the wall of safety presented by the two trucks. "Oh, am I glad to see you!" shouted Jack to Yzak. "Who are these two?"

"This is Dearka and Ben."

"Oh, so you're the famous Dearka! Nice to meet you!" Jack reached out and shooki hands with the golden-blonde boy. "Where the fuck is Charley?!"

"No time to explain. Listen, we need to get into those barracks!"

"Are you crazy?!"

"The only way to get to the warehouse where Dearka's gundam is stored is through there!" shouted Ben.

"His gundam is in there!?"

"Yeah, you think you can get us in?!"

"Why not?! We're already in deep shit! Alright, Vin, you and Miko cover them, they need to get into the barracks!" Vin nodded and then nudged the woman standing next to him. The two rose from behind the truck and opened fire with a barrage of pistol and BAR fire. Yzak, Dearka, and Ben ducked down and ran out from behind the truck, coming to stop at the first sandbag parapet. Ben lifted his head slightly, but then ducked down as a rifle round grazed the top of the sandbag. He and Dearka lifted their machine-pistols and let loss with a few rounds, but it was Vin's BAR that ultimately cleared the way. The three ran up, standing on either side of the door to the barracks. Another soldier ran out and Yzak clubbed him in the face with his schmeisser, sending him to the ground. He then ducked in and fired a burst to clear anything else. The two Gundam pilots followed closely behind Ben as the three entered the bunk room, which was now empty. "Alright, the warehouse is out there." said Zorin as pointed to another door on the opposite end of the room. The three walked slowly to the other end of the room, and Zorin, edged the door open cautiously.

"Yeah, Hibiki's getting ready to move." The door led to a large open area, much like a loading dock. On the end opposite the barracks was a large building with a retracted steel garage door. Several trucks were driving out of the open door, and to his left, Hibiki saw a Kubelwagen armed with an MG-42 machinegun and a pair of soldiers guarding it. He pulled his head back and turned to the two younger soldiers. "Alright, there are two guards out there. I'll lure them in, and you wait by the door for them."

"Gotcha."

"Right."

Zorin smoothed his hair and placed his weapon on a nearby cot. He then pulled the wrinkles out of his uniform and brushed himself off before proceeding out the door.

"You two!" he shouted. The two guards turned their heads in his direction. "What are you doing there! Get out here! We need help!"

Without hesitation, the two followed him into the doorway. The one on Dearka's side received a hard punch to the face, followed by low-spin kick while Yzak's got a knee to the stomach, finished by a jumping front kick to the head. "Satisfactory work." said Zorin sarcastically.

"Shut the fuck up. At least we got it done." replied Dearka.

"Let's go." The trio ran out the door and into the German automobile. Zorin took the wheel while Yzak sat up front and Dearka took charge of the mounted machinegun. The engine roared to life and Zorin sped into the warehouse. Guns began to blaze as the tiny military vehicle shot past rows of armed guards. "There she is!" shouted Dearka joyously as he beheld his beloved Buster gundam, which was resting on a raised platform. His words, however, were obscured by the gunfire.

XXXXXXX

Ulen stood on a large raised platform in the room where the generator was housed. He held his hands behind his back and was dictating maxims to his followers.

"Comrades, today begins a new era in the history of the human race. Never before has a creation as magnificent and powerful as ours ever graced the world. Our patience and perseverance has led to this moment. For too long have we lived under the tyranny of our own mistakes, but now all of that shall change. History will now bend to our will and we will mold time itself as we see fit. We have earned the sacred right to choose the manner in which time flows. Comrades, we are going home."

Each of the scientists rendered a stiff-armed fascist salute. Hibiki stood silent for a moment, gazing over all his men before he stepped down from the platform. "Begin activation of phase one."

XXXXXXXX

Dearka blazed away with the MG-42 as the Kubelwagen continued to screech almost full speed down the floor of the warehouse. Likewise, Yzak emptied rounds from his schmeisser while Zorin concentrated on maneuvering through the various obstacles in front of him. "There's a control panel to lower the platform in the office at the corner!" He removed his hand momentarily to point to a small room in the corner that they were rapidly approaching. "Yzak, can you drive!?"

"Not well!"

"Well that makes it even better. Take the wheel!" Zorin opened his door and slipped out rolling as he hit the ground. Yzak immediately dropped his weapon and leaned over to take control of the vehicle.

A guard ran to Ben, but was quickly dispatched by a swift chop kick and spin kick to the head. Zorin then turned to another oncoming assailant, an engineer swinging a wrench. He ducked as the would-be attacker swung the at his head, then delivered a hard punch to the stomach followed by a knee to the face. He then pulled out his pistol and dropped another pair of guards that were running to his position. When the unpleasant business was done with, Zorin ran to the corner office he had been speaking of, shoulder-jerking his way through the door. A lone engineer stood in the office, and upon seeing Zorin, reached for his own pistol. He was too slow as the Zaft agent let out a single round. Ben walked forward to a small control panel, pressed a few buttons then pulled a tiny lever. Soon, the platform began to slowly lower.

"He did it!" shouted Dearka.

Yzak waited until the platform had finally retracted until slowly breaking. The two of them jumped out of the car and raced forward, but were halted as more guards began to fire on them from the catwalks across the room. Yzak ran back to the car to try and make use of the machine-gun, but found to his dismay it was out of ammo. "Shit!" He reached into the front seat to recover his schmeisser when a sudden explosion ripped through catwalk, sending each of the guards flying off in different direction.

"Must be Zorin's handy work!" shouted Dearka as Yzak ran back to his friend. The two of them mounted the gundam and Dearka hopped into the now-open cockpit. Yzak grabbed hold of one of the rails on the open door and leaned his head inside

"Dearka, we still have to go recover my gundam."

"Where the fuck is it?"

"There's forest outside Brooklyn. It's about five miles in." The tanned pilot nodded and continued with his preparations while Yzak eased his way in, making sure not to squash his friend. The cockpit closed, and gundam-pilot proceeded to activate the machine. "Please, please, please…" he muttered quietly over and over again. Slowly, the various lights on all the control panels began to come life. The gundam's operating system activated and Dearka began to take control of his weapon. "Hold!" The gundam slowly rose from the platform. The torso lifted up as the arm retracted and the hand clenched into a fist. Then, with a thunderous roar, it smashed through the ceiling of the warehouse. The megalithic machine stood up and began to rend the metal of the ceiling completely open.

"I hope she can still fly." said Dearka as he began to activate the thrusters. They stalled at first, but exploded to life as the pilot pushed them up to full power. The gundam leaped from the warehouse and into the air, finally free of Hibiki's dreaded facility.

XXXXXXXX

"Phase one activated sir. The generator should be fully operational in forty minutes."

"Excellent." said Hibiki smiling.

"Sir, the radar range is picking up a mobile suit." said one of the lab-coat clad scientists.

"What?! That's impossible, all the suits are at the front lines."

"It must be the gundam sir." replied Hibiki's comrade. The doctor placed his hand over his chin and remained silent for a several seconds. "Deploy the new squadron. If we can't destroy them, we can at least stall for long enough."


	10. Chapter X

Chapter X

Dearka's gundam blasted over New York City with great ease. He flew picked up speed and continued to gain altitude as he flew past the Empire State Building and over the Brooklyn Bridge. "The spot is about five miles out." said Yzak to his friend. Dearka dropped his altitude and decreased his speed.

"Well, it should at least appear on radar." After flying low for about five or ten minutes, a small blip appeared and began flashing on the radar screen. "There she is." Dearka eased on his thrusters and hover above the spot for a few seconds before letting his mobile suit touch down. The trees in the surrounding area had been blown down for the most part from the Duel's crash landing, so the Buster set down without much problem. Dearka opened the cockpit and Yzak and let down a lanyard to repel his way down. He slowly slid down the long cord and eased himself down to the ground. The cockpit to his suit was still open and there a multitude of dirt covering the inside. He peaked his head inside and reached in to scrape off the soil and other such mess before climbing in and seating himself. He then close the cockpit and proceeded to activate his OS. He pulled down his keyboard and began to type the activation code. "God, I don't think I've ever doubted your existence," he said, "but if you to cement my belief in you, you'll act right now."

Nothing happened.

Yzak continued to feverishly type on his keyboard, but the gundam simply refused to come to move. "Fuck." he said as he pounded the keyboard in frustration. "Fuck, fuck…." The silver-haired boy clenched his hands and brought them down on the instrument panel. "FUCK!" The panel began to light up and the OS began to load. Yzak's mouth dropped slightly and he raised his eyebrow. "Thank you." he said weakly. The cockpit vibrated as the gundam began to come alive. He slid the keyboard out of the way and took control of his arms and legs. Slowly, the massive war-machine began to rise. Dearka's image appeared on the video-screen to Yzak's left. "Hey, Yzak! How's everything working?" he asked.

"A little shaky, but things are holding together."

"Good. Are your thrusters working?" The silver-haired gundam pilot activated his jets, and slowly eased the power upwards. Much like Dearka's, they were shaky at first, but as he increased the power, they began to give off a more constant flow. Finally, the Duel lifted from the ground and shot into the air. Dearka followed close by as Yzak stopped and hovered, then blasted in direction of the city.

XXXXXXX

Zorin walked slowly back out of the barracks main entryway, a machine-pistol dangling in his hand by the leather sling. The resistance fighters were busy collecting the dead and wounded. Ben took great care to step over and maneuver his way around the various bodies of German and resistance fighter alike. He stopped only shortly to pick up some grenades and a pair of extra magazines off some SS-men, then looked up again and continued walking. "Hey," he shouted, "which one of you has the communicator?" Jack, who was sitting atop one of the parapets, his face buried in his hands, lifted his head and turned his it around. His face was somewhat dirtied by soot and blood and the grime was washed away in certain areas by tears.

"That's me." he choked out. Zorin walked forward and stood in front of the boy.

"I need to use it." Jack stood and removed the device from his vest pocket, smacking into the Zaft agent's palm. He then walked over to help with the moving of the bodies, among whom, Vin and Miko were both counted. Ben stood silently for a moment, looking at the destruction, his eyes fixated in almost a trance-like state. He snapped out of it and turned his head down to look at the communicator, flipping open the panel and pressing in the small red button. "Yzak? Yzak can you hear me?" There was static on the line for a few seconds until Yzak's voice came over.

"Yeah, I hear ya. What's going on?"

"Listen, Hibiki's barricaded himself in the main facility, and he's activated the generator."

_Shit _thought the silver-haired gundam pilot. "Is there any time left to stop him?" he asked.

"Well, I know another way into the facility. I'll try to get in and stall him, but I'd say you've only got about twenty minutes until the generator is fully operational and he can actually open a portal."

"Alright, do what you can."

"I'll try. Now listen. There's a way to reverse all this damage, but the process is complicated. Once I'm in the facility, I'll call you again and give you some instructions. Whatever you do, do not damage the generator."

"Noted. Over and out."

"Wait!" said Jack as he grabbed the communicator from Zorin's hand. "Yzak…don't fail us on this. We all want our lives back."

"I promise we'll fix things. That you can count on."

"Thanks for everything."

"You're welcome." Jack smiled as he said good-bye and flipped the communicator closed. He handed back to Zorin who turned around towards the gate. "You're not going to tell him?"

"I think it's better if he doesn't know. He can't afford to have his judgment clouded right now."

Zorin turned back and took a final look at all the carnage that had been done in the past two hours. "You better hurry. They'll hear about this soon enough." This time, he could feel his heart-strings being pulled.

XXXXXXX

The Duel and Buster gundams continued their flight over Brooklyn, trying to maneuver their way over the tops of the buildings. Yzak flipped on his comm-screen and began to speak. "Dearka…"

"Yeah?" replied the other pilot.

"I just a call from Zorin. He says Hibiki's already activated the generator. We've only got about twenty minutes until Hibiki can open a portal."

"So what does he want us to do? Just blow the hell out of it?"

"No. He said that we need to fix the changes to history, and that he'll tell us how when we get there."

"I hope he's right about this shit, for all of our sakes."

"So do I." said Yzak turned his back to his forward observer panel. The two continued to cruise for about two or three minutes before the radar picked up something. Both turned their heads to their panels to see a v-shaped formation of objects heading towards them at high speeds. "What the hell are those?" asked Dearka.

"I don't know." replied Yzak. He turned his head to look in front of him and see a formation of objects heading directly in front of him. "Looks like planes." The objects began to break off from formation and sped up. They began to fire on the two mobile suits, but their ammunition was found to be most surprising. "Shit!" shouted Yzak as more rounds hit his gundam. "Those are beam cannons." More rounds exploded on the shells of their weapons.

"We don't have time for this!" shouted Dearka, sounding aggravated. He pulled off to the side, and began to fire his vulcans. Two planes exploded, and were sent hurtling towards the earth. Yzak likewise began to fire and pulled from one of his leg holsters a beam saber. He activated it, and brought it across one of the Bf109's, slicing it completely in half.

XXXXXXX

Captain Zorin walked carefully along the side rim of the sewer canal, making sure not to slosh into the muck. There was a drain that led into the facility, and Zorin hand entered it via a manhole in the street. He had a schmeisser slung around his back, two potato-masher grenades and pair of extra magazines tucked into his belt. He continued to look down at his watch, seeing how much time he had, picking up the pace his time dropped down to twelve minutes. He rounded another corner, and saw rays of light hanging down from up above, illuminating a small ladder. This was his exit. Ben walked forward and mounted the ladder, quickly climbing it and stopping to listen to any voice that might have been in the room above him. When he had confirmed that it was safe, he carefully lifted the manhole and poked his head up, then climbed all the way out of the tiny opening. These were the basement cells where Dearka had been held. Zorin unslung his weapon and walked forward and up the staircase. He paused as he heard the footsteps of two men.

"Yes, yes, these readings are excellent for a first phase…." The voice began to trail off as the two men passed by. The agent got out from around the door and turned to see he was in the lab. The control panels were all activated, but no one stood at them. He walked silently around the corner and up a flight of stairs to the observation cabin that overlooked the warehouse floor. He opened one of the doors that led out onto the catwalk and looked down below to see Hibiki and his men working a two control-panels. Flashes of blue and white light exploded violently on the platform in front of them, and blue waves of energy ran up and down the generator's dome. Hibiki stood with his arms crossed, looking at the platform. "It's stable!" shouted one of his men working on the panel.

"Bring it into phase four!" he replied. The scientists complied and began to push various buttons. Zorin kneeled down from his overhead position and took careful aim with weapon, wanting to make sure not to hit any of the panels. Slowly, he squeezed the trigger and let loose a burst of automatic fire. Hibiki turned his head to see the man shooting, and immediately ducked out of his line of sight. He ran towards the stairwell as his men took cover and tried to fire back. Ulen waited until Zorin was reloading before running up the stairs.

As Ben turned to see what was coming, Hibiki lunged at the man and threw him to the ground. The two struggled as Hibiki tried to reach over and tried to grab hold of the weapon. Zorin placed his hand over his adversary's face and began to squeeze it into a claw. Ulen latched his hand around the other man's neck.

"I'm not letting you get in my way! I've crossed centuries for this moment!"

"No! This ends now you..... psychotic bastard!"

Zorin reared his leg bag and put it on Hibiki's chest. He thrust it out and Hibiki was launched from his position on top of his former colleague. Zorin kipped up and ran over the doctor who was at present trying to recover himself. He launched into a jumping front kick and his foot found its way to the side of the doctor's face. He landed with a thud, and stood up to deliver double chop kick to the back of Ulen's knee and head, finally finishing with a beautiful straight-leg spin kick that sent Hibiki flying over the railing onto the floor below.

Almost immediately, Ben turned and dive-rolled back to his weapon and continued to fire. Slowly, the combat ineffective scientists dropped one by one until finally, it looked as though Hibiki's entire team was dead. Zorin threw his weapon and wiped some blood from his nose, then walked down the stairway. As he reached the ground level, the explosions of light began to increase. Slowly, a form began to take shape as the light collected into a swirling vortex. It truly was an awesome sight to behold. Zorin stopped and stood in admiration of the power before him, his mouth dropped and his eyes fixed in a dead stare.

XXXXXXX

Yzak and Dearka continued to fight their way through Hibiki's squadron, their weapons blazing against the quick maneuvers of expertly engineered pieces of German weaponry. More beam rounds smacked against their gundams, but the two expert Zaft pilots took them as mere mosquito bites as they slashed and shot their way through the planes. "One behind you!" shouted Yzak as he brought his beam saber across on of them, just missing Dearka's head.

"Thanks!" said Dearka as his head vulcans continued to blaze away cutting down two more of their adversaries. As their numbers dwindled, the remaining planes began to veer off and turn around, retreating from the now seemingly invincible weapons. The pair said nothing to each other as they once again picked up speed and blasted in the direction of the facility. Slowly, it came into sight, and both of them let up on the thrusters and landed just a few blocks away. There they waited.

XXXXXXX

"Holy shit." said Ben rather un-eloquently. He continued to stare upwards at the marvel of engineering until he felt the vibration of the communicator in his pocket. He absent-mindedly pulled the device from his pocket and opened it. "Ben?" The captain said nothing, still taken in by majesty of the vortex. "BEN! Are you there!?" Zorin snapped out of his trance and looked down at the communicator.

"Yeah. I'm here."

"What do you want us to do, Ben?" Zorin walked over to the control panel and began to adjust some of the switches.

"Okay, listen carefully. The portal can be re-shaped, but it requires a huge amount of electro-magnetic energy. Does one of you have a beam saber?"

"Yeah, I do. What do you want me to do with it?" asked Yzak impatiently.

"Rip open the ceiling warehouse and one of you stick your saber into the generator. It should give you a momentary energy boost necessary for opening the portal wide enough for both of you. Now, I'm resetting coordinates on the generator to send you back to Berlin in 1935. When you arrive, destroy the Ginn, and then re-enter the portal before it collapses. It should take you back to your own time."

"Is that all?"

"No. There's one vitally important detail. I also resetting it so that when you re-enter the portal, it will send you back to your own time, right to where the lab is located. Destroy it."

"What? But you'll be…."

"I know. But my life doesn't matter. It's going to be a small price to pay compared to the lives you're going to save."

"No! There's got to be…"

"Yzak. Listen. This situation offers not alternative. You have to do this. Either I die, or millions will."

Yzak began to choke as tears rolled down his face. "I have never served with finer soldiers than you."

"Thank you." said the boy sobbingly.

"Just remember something. Your…" Zorin's words were cut off as a shot was heard. The agent yelled out in pain before a crashing sound followed by static.

"Ben? Ben?! BEN!" screamed Yzak. He got no reply.


	11. Chapter XI

Chapter XI

Zorin fell forward and sprawled his hands out over the panel, trying to keep himself steady. A mysterious bullet had hit him in the lower thigh, just above his butt. He threw one of his arms back to swing himself around and see the source of the mysterious fire. In front of him he saw Hibiki, still alive, and limping towards him with his luger held in a death grip in his right hand. "You know something Zorin? I had a feeling something like this would happen. You were always such an intellectual, not at all adverse to questioning orders. I knew I couldn't trust you." The limping scientist fired another shot, but it missed and ricocheted off the control panel as Ben used his other one good leg and his arms to swing himself over to the other side. He looked down again at his wound and put both his hands down in a vain effort to stop the bleeding. The sounds of Ulen's shuffling feet began to get closer and closer, and the Zaft agent turned his attention towards finding a suitable weapon. The only firearm was several feet in front of him, and reaching for it meant revealing his head to his enemy.

"C'mon Zorin. Let's not make this anymore painful than it has to be. For both of us." The irritating taunt angered the Captain, who continued to formulate a possible plan. He turned his head and saw to his left a dead scientist, then turned his head back and did a double-take as something caught his attention. He could see a tiny round head of some sort sticking out from the man's boot. He reached his hand over and fingered the object, pulling it out of the boot, and seeing to relief that it was knife. The blade flicked out as he pressed a small metallic button, and Zorin had an idea. He propped himself sitting up against the back of the panel, his wounded leg hanging out as his other bent and prepared for a moment to jump.

"I told you before, I've crossed centuries for this. I think in total, it would probably equal about 315 years if you count that time I spent in my lab before you destroyed it." Ulen came closer and closer to the machine, and prepared his pistol for the final shot. He lowered his arm and stepped one final time.

Ben sprang up on his good leg and stabbed the knife directly into the bottom of the scientist's wrist. It exploded out the other side and blood spurted upwards like a fountain. Hibiki screamed in pain and threw his hand back, tossing the gun behind him. The Zaft agent then withdrew and stuck the knife into his enemy's thigh, this time not taking care enough to remove it. He dropped down, exhausted from the lack blood and the strain of the fight. Ulen staggered back before removing the knife from his thigh before regaining his composure and coming up behind his assailant. He grabbed hold of Zorin's head, pulled it back, and rammed the knife into his chest. Ben's entire body suddenly felt weak as blood began to slowly drain out his mouth. Hibiki laughed slightly, before throwing the man aside. Zorin's eyes were still wide open as he clutched his chest and watched Hibiki stagger towards the portal. The deranged man mounted the steps and stopped just before walking into the swirling void. "Power…." He muttered silently.

Suddenly, the roof over the warehouse ripped open. Hibiki's eyes shot skyward and he saw the head of a gundam staring down at him. A pair of hands appeared and began to rend the metal of the roof, tearing an enormous hole. A second gundam appeared overhead, this one hovering above the other and holding an active beam saber. The machine reared its arms up and stabbed the weapon directly downward into the generator. Zorin smiled slightly as the portal suddenly expanded, and Hibiki, who found himself caught in the reaction, seemed to vaporize almost instantaneously. His vision became fuzzy as he saw the gundams fly straight up and then drop down. It went black just as they entered the still expanding vortex.

XXXXXXXX

_Berlin Radio Broadcast. June 25, 1935. And here's is today's news, brought to you on by the Reich ministry of information. Our top story today, both police and military officials are baffled by an explosion that occurred about 15 kilometers outside Berlin late last night. A perfunctory investigation has produced no evidence of any bomb-making material or malfunction with machine equipment, ruling out the possibility of terrorism or an industrial accident. Though this explosion has caused many officials to worry, SS chief Heydrich has stated he will most likely call off any further investigation unless similar incidents occur within a short period of time or directly threaten either the Fuhrer or the general populace… _

XXXXXXXX

Yzak slowly opened his eyes and saw a fuzzy world in front of him. He reached up and rubbed them, trying to remove the blur and bring the world back into focus. The various multi-colored blobs around the cockpit slowly began to take shape, and the silver-haired boy could hear a soft under-current of muffled words. "Eeah…," he heard before closing his eyes again. "Eaahk. Eesak. Yzak!" The words suddenly hit him like a freight train and his eyes snapped all the way open. He shook his head a little and then turned it to see his comm-screen. "Yzak, are you okay?"

"Yeah…I'm fine. Where are we?"

"We're home, I think. We're somewhere near the wreckage of Junius 7." Yzak's memory suddenly kicked in. Without speaking a word, he turned his gundam around and blasted into the floating debris. "Wait! Yzak! Where the hell are you going!?" shouted Dearka who turned on his thrusters and followed close behind. "Yzak!?"

"The lab! Hibiki's lab is around here!"

"What?"

"Hibiki's lab is set up somewhere around here. We've got to destroy it."

"Well where is it?" asked Dearka

"I don't fucking know! Zorin didn't say exactly where it was. Just, help me find it." Dearka paused for a second before proceeding to help his friend.

The pair spent a good twenty minutes flying in and out of the wreckage before they stopped and exchanged words. "Fuck! Where the hell is it?" asked Dearka.

"I don't fucking know!" replied Yzak who was beginning to sound more and more anxious. _Alright, Just stop. Think for a second. Where was I when the explosion happened. It's not too far from here. _He continued to maneuver his way through the wreckage, taking careful notice of any suspicious looking materials. Yzak stopped as Dearka continued to pop in and out from the wreckage. He was hearing a faint sound, sort of like the pushing of a slow moving ship. No, more like the sound made by the gravitational rings around the Plants. "Yzak, I think…."

"Shut up! Sit still for a second." he quietly commanded his friend. He began to notice the sound was not just coming from one spot, it was all around him. He pushed his thrusters up just slightly and moved forward. He turned back to find the sound somewhat more faint. Again, he turned up on his thrusters and moved forward. The sound once more became more faint, almost inaudible. Yzak then noticed something else. Floating around a good -sized portion of the wreckage was a large rotating ring. "Dearka, get out here quick!" shouted Yzak into his comm-screen. The Buster gundam rotated to the direction of the duel and blasted its way forward until it stood next to its fellow machine.

"What is it?" asked Dearka.

"I think I found it." replied Yzak. Dearka turned his head to see the rotating ring that hung around the wreckage of the colony. "Holy shit…"

Without hesitation, the pair of gundams turned the weapons towards the floating wreckage and unleashed a barrage of lethal projectiles. They found their mark on the as the wreckage exploded into a fireball that glowed brilliantly for a few brief seconds before settling. The two pilots remained silent as they waited to see if there efforts had been in vain.

Nothing happened. Everything remained the same.

Yzak laid his head back and sighed a sigh of relief before turning to his comm-screen. "I think we did it. Are you still there Dearka?" The blonde pilot jokingly began to pat himself all over his body.

"Apparently."

"I think we did it then." Dearka said nothing, simply nodding his head back and forth.

"Well, let's fly out and see if we can contact one of our ships."

Dearka sighed again. "Amen." he replied quietly.


	12. Afterwards

Afterwards

Athrun reclined back into the white leather chair, his attention focused on the television in the corner. He attentively watched old reruns of _The Benny Hill Show _until Kira walked into the lounge room and he turned his head to his friend. Kira sauntered slowly over to a large couch and dropped himself down. "So how are they both doing?" asked Athrun.

"The doctor says that they'll be fine in a few days, but he wants to keep them both under watch." A few hours earlier, the Archangel had heard their distress call and picked them up. The battle had been over by the time they were found, but neither seemed care.

"So what do you think of their whole story?" asked Athrun as he switched off the television and walked over to sit next to his friend. Kira let out a breath and placed his hands behind his head.

"I don't know. It all seems pretty far-fetched."

"You think they made it up?" he asked.

"Maybe."

"But why would they do that?"

"Like, I said," replied Kira, "I don't know."

Both and Athrun remained silent, pondering the implications of the situation. Sure the two had disappeared for a few hours without trace, then suddenly appeared out of thin air with battle scars and a story about time-travel. The issue of time-travel remained a constant debate, and though Athrun had his doubts about the validity of this, he couldn't help but ponder one detail. The two of them had been talking to an officer in the mess to another officer, one who's name they couldn't remember, or didn't bother to. Apparently, this man was a bit of a history buff, one with a particular affinity for WWII regalia. _Sure, it's easy to dismiss this whole story about time-travel, _they remembered him saying, _but answer me this: How in the hell did Yzak manage to get his hands on a vintage 1943 gray Waffen SS tunic complete with Hauptsurmfuhrer ranks and a Knights Cross? I mean, that kind of stuff hasn't been around for 150 years._

Of course most of the technical jargon had blown over both their heads, but they got the basic message, _how did he get the uniform? _

"Neither do I." said Athrun.


	13. Notes: Lessons in Racism

Lessons in Racism from Popular Anime

When flipping through the well-thumbed pages of history, it is difficult to find a more recognizable symbol of militant fascism than the Nazis. Their reign of terror as served as an example of what will inevitably happen when nationalistic fervor and notions of racial superiority are mixed together.

When I first started writing Iron Storm, it was really just a backseat project to another story I was writing, that one being an alternate history piece about the victorious Axis powers. All I really knew about my fanfic was that I wanted it to serve as a turning point for both Yzak and Dearka. As they were probably two of the most racist characters in the series, I wanted this fic to be a chance for them to once and for all abandon their concepts of racial superiority.

My alternate history story was going nowhere and what little work I got done I didn't really like. So, I decided to scrap what I had and start over. This is when it occurred to me that the subject of alternate history could help me with my fanfic.

At the time, I was stuck trying to figure just how I could change the pair's thinking. When Hitler was brought into the equation, the answer was obvious: confront them with the consequences of racism running rampant and out of control. So, I picked the most well-known example of institutionalized racism and military expansionism, Nazi Germany.

In my mind, only after Yzak and Dearka could see the ultimate consequences of racism as a motivation for military action, they could finally abandon it.


	14. Notes: Third Reich Victorious

Third Reich Victorious

The concept of a victorious Nazi Germany is something which today can only be found in books, movies, and our own imaginations. In 1941, however, as the allies were driven from continental Europe, the possibility of Hitler winning the war was very real.

On July 16, Hitler issued Directive 16, the preparation of a landing operation against Great Britain. _Since England, despite her hopeless military situation, still shows no sign of willingness to come to terms, I have decided to prepare, and if necessary to carry out, a landing operation against her. The objective of this is to eliminate England as a base for the prosecution of the war against Germany_. The invasion plan, code-named Sea Lion, was ultimately abandoned due to poor weather and the failure of the Luftwaffe to win the Battle of Britain.

In my particular scenario, the eastern United States was taken after Hitler launched an invasion of Britain and then moved to conquer the Soviet Union. Britain would have been the key to his victory. Had Hitler succeeded in making the island nation another outpost for his odious Third Reich, the course of the war would have been very different.

First of all, because Britain was the only nation in Europe not occupied or friendly towards the Nazis, it served as the operations and supply base for all Allied and resistance operations in Europe. Her occupation would have not only have meant the end of the campaign in the northern Europe (i.e. no D-Day), but also the end of effective organized resistance throughout the continent.

More importantly, the British army served vital role in the ultimate failure of Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion the Soviet Union. In late 1941, as Hitler was preparing to turn his troops against Russia, the British launched a counter-attack against the Italian army through Greece. Hitler was forced to send troops to back up the Italians which delayed the invasion by six weeks and completely threw off the time tables that had been established. German troops ran into the brutal Russian winter, and were eventually halted and turned back at the battle of Stalingrad.

Occupying Britain would have meant that the counter-attack would have never have taken place, and the invasion of Russia could have launched as originally intended. Hitler would have been able to sweep through the Soviet Union in probably 2.5 or 3 months.

With Britain and Russia firmly subjugated, only one obstacle would stand between Hitler and world domination…America. In reality, there was really no way Hitler could have launched a full-scale invasion of the US. Germany simply lacked the industrial capacity for such a complex, overseas operation. This does not mean, however, that his threat was totally non-existant, and he most certainly could have attacked the States by other means. As German science progressed, new weapons such as long-range bombers, battleships, submarines, and V-2 rockets, would have made war with US a very real possibility. And with the advent of atomic weapons, things may have eventually bogged down into a cold war between Germany and the United States. It's really anyone's guess.

Hitler's victory may be fiction, but it is based on fact. If Britain had ultimately fallen to the Nazis, the world as we know it would be a very different place.


End file.
